If the professor doesn't yield to parental pressure,
there's always some administrator with jelly for a spine, and a pencil-brain
that equates quality of education with how many children she or he can capture
and put into brick-and-mortar buildings. The pursuit in college has been of achieving
a critical mass of students who earn high enough grades to stay in college,
sometimes for six years, rather than in developing knowledge and critical
thinking skills--traits that administrators all claim they believe but don't do
more than pay "lip service."
The problem of runaway grade inflation is that the
exceptional student receives the same grade as the above average student, and
the mediocre student can slide into a degree. Until professors stand up for
academic rigor, even against the prattling of their administrators and the
practices of their more "likable" peers, and are willing to push not only themselves
but their students beyond their limits, there is no reason for students to
expect academic rigor--and every reason for them to expect to be able to
graduate with honors.
[Dr. Brasch
is an award-winning journalist, former newspaper and magazine reporter and
editor, and professor emeritus from a Pennsylvania state university. His latest
book is Fracking Pennsylvania, an
in-depth investigation of the health and environmental effects of deep earth
drilling in the Marcellus Shale.]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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